Part II, Chapter 9, Salvation from Heaven Summary and Analysis

In Part II, Chapter 9, the Actor gives Ginzburg and the others advice on how to survive -such as through deceit. One woman, Polina Melnikova, explains that she finds piles of previously cut timber in the woods, saws off the ends to make them look freshly-cut, and rests for the rest of the work period.

In June 1940, Ginzburg is saved by a doctor from Leningrad named Vasily Petukhov, Petukhov notices a family resemblance in Ginzburg to her son who is staying with relatives that are friends of Petukhov, and Petukhov vows that Ginzburg will live. Because she knows Latin, Petukhov arranges for Ginzburg to be made a medical attendant in the children's hospital.

Conditions at the timber camp only go from bad to worse, but relief comes in two forms: first, in...